On Monday, August 4, 2014 9:37:44 AM UTC-7, Bill Owen wrote:
A colleague and I were asked to train about 8 or 10 camp counselors on

the use of their six 70 mm refractors. Nice instruments, f/10 with

something like 35 and 10 mm eyepieces, 1x finder with the little

battery-powered red dot, alt-az mount. We set up on a turnout on

Angeles Crest Hwy (north of Los Angeles) at about 4900 ft elevation.



The counselors were all high school students -- one was already quite

knowledgeable about astronomy but I don't think had ever used a

telescope (all book learning) -- they all were very excited to be there.



Most of them dutifully installed their right-angle prism. Not I. And I

had a chance to teach one of the kids how to point the telescope with

both eyes open -- you know the trick, how to center the object as seen

by your "off" eye in the field of view of the telescope that you're

seeing with your "on" eye, and how as you got close the magnified

version would appear in the telescope. It took some explaining, but she

finally got it -- and the "oh wow!" when Saturn appeared made the whole

trip worthwhile. That, and just spending time under the Milky Way

pointing out the constellations and telling their stories.



We stayed until about 10:30, looked the crescent moon, Mars and Saturn,

Albireo (my colleague called it "the UCLA star" to the dismay of the USC

fans present), epsilon Lyrae ... M31 was a good target although it was

still low in the NE ... don't know if any of them found M57 although we

mentioned it.



I love doing this sort of thing. Not only is it fun to spread the joy

and wonder of the night sky, it also helps me stay in touch with my roots.



-- Bill Owen

Bill, I've been doing this stuff at grammar schools in Orange & L.A. counties for years. It is a lot of fun to teach these little sponge-brains, they are quick to understand the basics, and the positive feedback I receive from them makes it all worthwhile.

\Paul A, a dinosaur through-and-through